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Default font is replacing all fonts everywhere

Elan
Elan
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The Firefox desktop browser default font is replacing all fonts on some websites, only title fonts on some others, and then leaving others unchanged. It seems random, and I can't stop the default font from taking over randomly on most websites no matter what I do. This was not happening until today, and no browsers or general MacBook Air preferences were changed between today and yesterday when I last used the browser on desktop.

Under Firefox Preferences » Fonts » Advanced, I've made sure to check the box to "Allow pages to choose their own fonts instead of your selections above", and I've unchecked it, and I've re-checked it, and the default is still overriding fonts on most websites.

I've quit and restarted Firefox 3 times.

Help!

The Firefox desktop browser default font is replacing all fonts on some websites, only title fonts on some others, and then leaving others unchanged. It seems random, and I can't stop the default font from taking over randomly on most websites no matter what I do. This was not happening until today, and no browsers or general MacBook Air preferences were changed between today and yesterday when I last used the browser on desktop. Under Firefox Preferences » Fonts » Advanced, I've made sure to check the box to "Allow pages to choose their own fonts instead of your selections above", and I've unchecked it, and I've re-checked it, and the default is still overriding fonts on most websites. I've quit and restarted Firefox 3 times. Help!

Chosen solution

Sites have a variety of approaches for specifying their preferred and fallback fonts. For example:

  • let the browser decide everything (do not specify a font-family; Firefox uses the default serif font)
  • use the browser's default sans-serif font [ font-family: sans-serif; ]
  • specify a desired system font [ font-family: Arial; ]
  • specify a downloadable font [ font-family: Roboto; ]
  • preferred with fallbacks [ font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; ]

If you are seeing an unusual default font in more places than usual, one possible reason is if web fonts are blocked. There is an obscure built-in preference for this that most people do not change (gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled) and some add-ons block "remote" fonts.

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Sites have a variety of approaches for specifying their preferred and fallback fonts. For example:

  • let the browser decide everything (do not specify a font-family; Firefox uses the default serif font)
  • use the browser's default sans-serif font [ font-family: sans-serif; ]
  • specify a desired system font [ font-family: Arial; ]
  • specify a downloadable font [ font-family: Roboto; ]
  • preferred with fallbacks [ font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; ]

If you are seeing an unusual default font in more places than usual, one possible reason is if web fonts are blocked. There is an obscure built-in preference for this that most people do not change (gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled) and some add-ons block "remote" fonts.